[supermarketsushi]

Silly title but serious question: where can I live my "Martha Stewart" life in Connecticut?

By that I mean live in a colonial/historic home not too far from a village green and max 2.5 hours from NYC. I would love the ability to grow fresh fruit and vegetables in the garden, work on "projects" around the house, let my dog out in the yard to run free and happy, maybe get some chickens, etc. But also be close enough to a downtown of sorts and no more than 2.5 hours from NYC as I occasionally have to be in office in person. I am also partial to gourmet markets and do the occasional bout of upscale shopping every now and then.

I'm looking at Clinton, Guilford, Madison, Old Lyme, and Old Saybrook. Bonus points if I could live less than 30 mins from a beach!

My husband and I love going to the movies, reading books, and trying new foods/restaurants. We also like to stroll together and grab an ice cream after dinner. We don't have kids (nor will we) so the ability to buy a historic home with some land and be near a village green and enjoy the leaves changing colors in fall is really what's most important for us. Since I know you will ask: budget is up to $600,000 but the lower the better.

Thank you all so much! I am absolutely in love with CT and have been since I was a little girl.

[kidyankee764]

Branford, Guilford, Madison, Westbrook, Clinton, Old Saybrook, Essex and the Lymes. You’ll be just over 2 hours drive to NYC and 2.5 including the trek to the New Haven train station. All are amazing towns and worth a look.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by supermarketsushi

Silly title but serious question: where can I live my "Martha Stewart" life in Connecticut?

By that I mean live in a colonial/historic home not too far from a village green and max 2.5 hours from NYC. I would love the ability to grow fresh fruit and vegetables in the garden, work on "projects" around the house, let my dog out in the yard to run free and happy, maybe get some chickens, etc. But also be close enough to a downtown of sorts and no more than 2.5 hours from NYC as I occasionally have to be in office in person. I am also partial to gourmet markets and do the occasional bout of upscale shopping every now and then.

I'm looking at Clinton, Guilford, Madison, Old Lyme, and Old Saybrook. Bonus points if I could live less than 30 mins from a beach!

My husband and I love going to the movies, reading books, and trying new foods/restaurants. We also like to stroll together and grab an ice cream after dinner. We don't have kids (nor will we) so the ability to buy a historic home with some land and be near a village green and enjoy the leaves changing colors in fall is really what's most important for us. Since I know you will ask: budget is up to $600,000 but the lower the better.

Thank you all so much! I am absolutely in love with CT and have been since I was a little girl.

FYI: Martha Stewart lived on Turkey Hill Road in Westport. It appears that you can buy the real Martha Stewart lifestyle for 5.29 million.
https://www.westport-news.com/reales...photo-21440304

I live in Trumbull and we have a historic area called Nichols that is actually on the historic register. The entire area has lots of historic old homes and you would not be that far from NYC. The Nichols area also has it's own little park/community area. Take a look.....you might like it. You can have chickens on 1 acre or more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichol...toric_District

You can see some of the old houses on their Facebook page. Igor Sikorsky lived in a few houses in Nichols and you can see his son in lot of the pictures.
https://www.facebook.com/Nichols-Far...=page_internal

This is for the Nichols Community Center.
https://www.niatrumbull.org/events

We are less than 30 minutes from the Fairfield beaches. There is a state beach in Westport called Sherwood Island and it is free to get in. We are about 30 minutes from that.

The inventory of houses is so low there are not a lot of historic houses on right now but here is one.
https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/...d/pid_43617353
This one is over your budget and not historic but it is in Nichols so I wanted you to see it to get an idea.
https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/...e/pid_43718121
This one is under contract.
https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/...e/pid_42247048

The houses in Nichols are gone quickly so it is hard to show you more.

[JayCT]

Connecticut is full of great places you can live the Martha Stewart lifestyle. It’s why Martha originally settled here. Your budget however prevents you from following in Martha’s exact footsteps since she lived in Uber pricy Westport. Fortunately there are a lot of affordable alternatives.

It’s really hard to beat the Connecticut shoreline east of New Haven. It has so much of what you are looking for. For a true Martha Stewart experience though, I’d stick to the more affluent towns like Madison or Guilford.

The lower Connecticut River Valley is very nice as well but it may be a little too quiet for the lifestyle you seek. My original thought when I saw this was Litchfield County but it too may be too quiet and it’s not close to a beach.

Another option I thought of was the beautiful Farmington River Valley, west of Hartford. Farmington, Avon and Simsbury are stunning towns with a lot of what you look for but again it’s not close to the beach. Still a wonderful place to live. Given this I’d stick to the shoreline east of New Haven. Good luck, Jay

[hvexpatinct]

Check out Washington/New Preston or Litchfield too. Each are less than 2.5 hours from NYC and have lake beaches, lots of charming homes, and quaint, if small village centers. $600k is a fairly tight budget for Washington, but very doable in Litchfield. It may be possible to find something within walking distance of the Litchfield green for that price.

The inventory in the area is very limited right now, but here’s one option that popped up in your price range.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...57833445_zpid/

Also - if you want chickens be sure to check local ordinances first. Some towns have pretty strict regulations on keeping any form of livestock.

[Monello]

Move to New Jersey. To the town of Nutley to be precise. Then you can live exactly like Martha.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by supermarketsushi

I'm looking at Clinton, Guilford, Madison, Old Lyme, and Old Saybrook. Bonus points if I could live less than 30 mins from a beach!

You're on the right track. Go east of New Haven. West of New Haven is traffic snarls and wall to wall people out and about working, and buying and eating anything within arms length.
You can't beat being near the shore in CT, you can't.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by Monello

Move to New Jersey. To the town of Nutley to be precise. Then you can live exactly like Martha.

lol

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

You're on the right track. Go east of New Haven. West of New Haven is traffic snarls and wall to wall people out and about working, and buying and eating anything within arms length.
You can't beat being near the shore in CT, you can't.

But Martha was West of New Haven and only about a 15 t0 20 minute drive from Trumbull lol. Plus you are closer to NYC on the Metro North line.

I know what you are saying about the CT shoreline........but I am looking into the coastline east of New Haven for retirement. There is not a lot of high end shopping and no Whole Foods that I can see.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Monello

Move to New Jersey. To the town of Nutley to be precise. Then you can live exactly like Martha.

I lived in Nutley for a few years. It is where Martha grew up and NOTHING like the life Martha has now or built her empire on. Jay